Active Learning

Active learning – i.e. learning by thinking, doing and reflecting – focuses on inquiry in the field, studio, laboratory and classroom using real sites, community-related and employer-linked activities. The engagement of students in active learning becomes more and more a key feature within the GEES disciplines.

Projects:

• The Talessi Project - Teaching and Learning at the Environment-Science-Society Interface - The Talessi Project promotes active learning for interdisciplinarity, critical thinking and values awareness in higher education. The web page contains very useful teaching and learning resources on Active Learning.
• Module websites as tools for active learning in undergraduate geography - This project is one of the Learning and Teaching Development Projects funded by LTSN-GEES (round two, 2002) and aims to explore and document the redevelopment of geography module websites, with particular emphasis on resource efficiency and learning effectiveness.

Case studies:

• How do I encourage active learning?
• Preparing to Teach Large Classes: Strategies to Promote Active Learning
• 'Teaching Each Other': An Example of Active Learning in a Lecture, Tutorial or Workshop

Publication: Engaging students in active learning: case studies in geography, environment and related disciplines (pdf 1.45Mb) - Mick Healey and Jane Roberts (Ed)

Article: Reflections on a Discipline-wide Project: developing active learning modules on the human dimensions of global change – Susan Hanson and Susanne Moser – Published in Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Volume 27 Number 1, 2003

Paper: The TALESSI Project: promoting active learning for interdisciplinarity, values awareness and critical thinking in environmental higher education - Peter C. Jones and J.Quentin Merritt – Published in Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 23, No. 3, 1999.

Resources: Active Learning reference list

Website: Centre for Active Learning (CeAL)